MOVIE REVIEW: BEIJING LOVE STORY (Stop in the name of Love!)

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“BEIJING LOVE STORY” PRESS REVIEW 

 (北京爱情故事).

Shall we say, “Stop in the name of love?”

This movie seems to say so, given the content.

“BEIJING LOVE STORY” is a collaborative venture by the entrepreneurial film makers from Hong Kong jointly with Mainland China.

It is culled from a popular mainland China television drama series aired in 2012 which had an impressive run securing great reviews and scoring high ratings.

The original Producers therefore seize the opportunity to hop aboard the bandwagon with a re-imagined dressing, revise some characters by adding. And juggling others in order to boost a refreshed team from google box to the cinematic screen.

The subject is unashamedly love. Family love, drinking buddies bromance, romantic love and last and most important: the sexual love that rejuvenate your libido and keeps the torchlight below your belt joyfully upright and vibrant.

As the years roll on, familiarity would  breed contempt and when reality sets in for every couple, hostility balks.

Aw, this is the message that BEIJING LOVE STORY is conveying to the audience. The path to whatever love never will run smooth, does it?

Love actually sucks!

There are five parables told in a five-chapter omnibus, all written and directed by CHEN SICHENG. He even acted in one story about his movie highlighting greed, lust and infidelity.

The run-down:

Man (Chen) encounters Yan (Tong) and falls head-over-heels in love. They are itchy, have unprotected sex, the girl gets pregnant and both decide to get married despite parental objection from the bride’s mother.

In story 2, Chen’s best friend’s infidelities are exposed when torrid pictures of him making sex stored in his cellphone are discovered by his suspicious wife Lei (Yu Nan). She plots revenge.

In story 3, Hui (Tony Leung Ka Fai) flies happily to Greece for a romantic tryst far from the madding crowd to ball his horny wife (Carina Lau). The whole plan bombs when this middle-aged couple entered into a hilarious, heated argument over plastic surgery.

Meanwhile the story 4 unfurls to show their teenage daughter Xing Yang (Nana Ou Yong), an aspiring cellist has fallen in love with her schoolmate Songge (Liu Haoran). Songge tries to build her confidence in order for her to compete for her TV talent show.

In the final story Songge’s grandfather (Wang Qin Xiang) is back at the dating game at 66 in order to please his dying wife ( Siqin Gaowa). The dedicated wife wants him to be happy and remarries, in this case it’s to an attractive Chinese divorcee (Elaine Jin).

There’s a neat balance of farce, comedy and adolescent melodrama here and the film director is able to accomplish these in style.

It’s an emotionally mesmerizing film with strong performances by a veteran cast ensemble such Siqin Gaowa and Elaine Jin. Both actresses have been noticeably absent for a while so they are delightful toppings.

Coming from a Mainlad China director, it has to be one the better Mandarin films that I have seen thus far.

Go for it!

Ratings: 4 out of 5